90 day right to sack and more public service cut backs

Union continues to fight against 90-day trials
New Zealand's largest private sector union has launched a campaign against the 90-day trial period for new employees, which comes into full effect on Friday. The trial period was previously limited to employers with 20 or fewer staff until a law change last year extended it to all businesses. The bill was vigorously opposed by unions and the Labour and Greens. A campaign launched today by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents 43,000 workers, is demanding employers pledge not to make use of the trial period. Law changes had also restricted union access, allowed employers to demand medical certificates for a single day of leave, and allowed a fourth week of holiday entitlement to be traded in, the union said.

The last attempt to judge how the 90 day right to sack was impacting on employment was a farce as it was taken over 60 days! Kate Wilkinson originally told the Government NOT to expand these powers which were gifted to small business, but National decided not to listen to their own Minister of Labour and needlessly gave ACT a bone.

Why is ACT being given that level of love and isn't that simply the tail wagging the dog? When you compare the amount of love John Key has given Rodney compared to the dead rats the Maori Party have to swallow each week, one should be questioning the menu.

As the economic meltdown reaches double dip stage two, the GST rise will increasingly hurt NZers while draconian labour laws that give bosses the right to sack will stop any middle class person with large ongoing costs changing jobs for fear of getting sacked.

Meanwhile the Government keeps softening the country up for the most radical dismantling of the the state for the wet dream fantasies of the neoliberal agenda.

More public servants face the axe
More job losses are set to sweep through the public service as the Government heads toward a record deficit. In a speech to public servants yesterday, Finance Minister Bill English stepped up his warning that some programmes and departments were luxuries the country could no longer afford. He said the Government was eyeing up spending on things that might be "nice to have", but which came at the expense of necessities.

Implementing Milton Friedman, neo-liberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma domestically to solve a global economic meltdown caused by the very same Milton Friedman, neo-liberal, low tax, deregulation, free market dogma is the very definition of insanity...

Years of global slump ahead - Mr Yen
In an era where forecasts by permabears have got ample attention and vindication, few are as disturbing as this: a world recession until 2018. It comes from Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former top currency official, known as "Mr Yen" for his ability to move markets. Because Tokyo's revolving-door politics often sends a new face to each Group of 20 meeting, he is one of the few Japanese constants in market circles. Sakakibara was a key player when Japan faced everything from the Asian crisis to Russia's default to the onset of deflation to a banking collapse that saw the demise of Yamaichi Securities. So, when an economist as well known as Sakakibara says "the world is set for a long-term structural slump reminiscent of the 1870s", when average global annual growth was about 1 per cent, I can't help but listen. The reason for the slowdown? Governments put fiscal austerity ahead of restoring stable growth.

Massive cuts to social welfare and austerity measures are the exact wrong position to be adopting and add to this the usual privatization agenda National always concoct to help their wealthy mates buy state assets and we have the exact wrong direction for the economy. What National are banking on is redneck hate to see them through as they start to punish the most vulnerable and weakest in society for a global economic crises the weakest and most vulnerable had no hand in making.

Personally I find it INCREDIBLE that the Finance Minister doesn't ONCE get questioned on his dodgy deal with PEDA. I mean this is supposedly the Finance Minister telling NZers that we all know there isn't any money, and yet here he is trying to hand over $4.8 million in a dodgy deal.

Thank God for a compliant mainstream media, I'm surprised the Polls aren't 75% in favour of John Key with this kind of uncritical coverage, why bother with Crosby and Textor when the corporate media are so terribly willing?

To use an economic phrase, the neoliberal freemarket model has been well and truly rooted and other than bennie bashing, union bashing, tax cuts for the rich and rivers of corporate welfare, John Key’s all out of ideas.

Sadly his hard right stormtroopers are not. In the intellectual vacuum I like to refer to as John Key’s leadership, his Milton Friedman admiration glee club inner caucus have set in place all the mechanisms required to privatize the continental shelf of NZ. The slashing of public services when desperate NZers need them most is more sadist than masochist even though the long term consequence of their actions is corporate coercion over the State.

The 2011 election will be fought on economic ideology, which will be difficult as every news reporter in NZ is banned from ever using the words economic ideology on TV for fear that concepts more complex than eating bugs guts while bathed in maggots will be too difficult for the most educated generation in human history .

The danger for National is that John Key told people they would be better off from the Tax cuts funded by a rise in GST, they are not and John Key's brand of vacant aspiration politics can't work in a recession. With Labour offering a real economic alternative to Nationl's bankrupt mix of corporate welfare and neoliberal pretensions, voters for the first time in 25 years have a choice.

If only Labour could pause in self mutilating itself for 5 minutes.

One person Hughes implosion will benefit is Winston Peters, who may be on the turn from his 3 hard right policies after initial testing suggested a pavlov dog voter would be the only outcome. The Standard are smitten with Winston and rather than chasing rump National Party vote the old king of spin may be re-inventing himself as a social democrat.

Oh the laughs we'll have this election.

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